Los Angeles

Magnum News

Investor Purchases Future Office Development Site in Los Angeles An investor acquired 0.413 acres at 11261 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles from Sayabalian Family Trust for $6.53 million, or approximately $15.81 million per acre ($353 per square foot).

The property's current use is a Chevron gas station, which will eventually be demolished. The buyer plans to use the land for office development. Eric Sackler and Antonio Hackem of Coldwell Banker Commercial represented the seller.

Richard Meruelo sold the Federal Express distribution facility at 2000 N. San Fernando Road in Los Angeles to LA - San Fernando Partners LLC for $35 million, or about $293 per square foot. The cap rate at the time of sale was reported at 7.9%.

The industrial building was constructed in 1998 as a built-to-suit for Federal Express. The property consists of 119,381 square feet of which 9,868 square feet is office space. There are six dock-high and 13 grade-level doors. The power includes 1,800 amps and 277/480 volts. The company's current lease term runs through October 31, 2014, at which time it has a five-year option to extend through October 31, 2019. Expenses on the lease are triple net.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – The Downtown based garment maker American Apparel has reached a 10-year agreement with landlord Meruelo Maddux Properties to stay in its 800,000-square-foot, Warehouse District headquarters, according to American Apparel financial filings. Although American Apparel’s lease expired in December 2008, it has continued to occupy the pink factory building at Seventh and Alameda streets. The extension comes more than fourth months after Meruelo Maddux, Downtown’s largest landlord, entered bankruptcy.

Prior to reaching the deal, American Apparel, which employs about 5,000 workers at the 747 Warehouse St. factory, was mulling a move. The company considered an old Boeing plant in Long Beach, among other potential new homes, said broker Mike Meraz, owner of Magnum Properties, who negotiated the new lease. “There were other considerations, other buildings to look at, but Meruelo stepped up,” Meraz said. American Apparel represents Mereulo Maddux’s largest tenant, both in terms of the size of its space and the value of its former lease. Terms of the new lease were not disclosed. American Apparel CEO Dov Charney said the lease was agreed to this month, but declined to comment further on the deal. Richard Meruelo, CEO of Meruelo Maddux, could not be reached
immediately Tuesday afternoon.

In addition to housing almost all business operations, the factory has also served as a massive billboard for the company to promote itself and its progressive, often immigration-oriented political messages. American Apparel can also now safely cling to its various mottos touting its “Made in Downtown L.A.” cache. The building’s sprawling parking lot is also known as the site of festive blowout warehouse sales that draw thousands of young buyers looking for discounted t-shirts, leggings, short shirts and underwear.

American Apparel has renewed its existing lease for 32,000 square feet at 12691 Pala Drive in
Garden Grove, CA, and expanded by another 38,000 square feet. The 70,000-square-foot
transaction was treated as one deal with a ten-year term.